Grape Variety: Carmenere

Colour:

Red

Now common in Chile (and still be found in pockets of Tuscany), this grape used to be a Bordeaux speciality but disappeared with the arrival of phylloxera. It gives a heady perfume of berries, the vines grow well on lime and clay with glacial deposits and they like a daily temperature of 32° on average, which is is perfect for the production of good anthocyanins (or colour pigments) - see La Poda Corta (Rapel Valley, Chile) which is 100% Carmenere and has spent 16 months in French oak barrels. The nose expresses greenery in abundance - capsicum, green bean and mint pea and there is a satisfying highly digestible bitterness in the mouth.

The Secreto Carmenere from Viu Manent (Colchagua Valley, Chile) is no shrinking violet with its opulent nose of boysenberry, mocha and fragrant herbs. In the mouth, flavours of black cherry and bittersweet chocolate dominate, and backed up by ample yet voluptuous tannins, leading to a long, rich finish. Sensational with lightly seared red meats prepared with floral herbs such as sage and basil, also excellent with grilled eggplant and mushrooms and roasted game birds such as quail and goose.

For years Carmenere and Merlot were confused in Chile - they are clearly different varieties. They ripen nearly ten weeks apart, the leaves of the respective varieties are different, the flavour is different, their genetic properties are different - shall I go on? The confusion seems to lie that the two grapes were originally planted cheek-by-jowl (or root-by-stock) and often harvested and fermented together.

Carmenere has the potential to make interesting wines. The modern approach is to over-extract to find a tannic structure and age in new oak. The better examples focus on freshness and restraint, whilst eliminating the tendency towards greenness.